


When the World Stops Spinning

by panicparade



Category: Panic! at the Disco, Young Veins
Genre: 2012 (movie), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Cpt. Knots is important, Fluff and Angst, I don't know anything about Dallon's family, M/M, Trope : Alternate Universe - Apocolypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-20
Updated: 2013-04-20
Packaged: 2017-12-09 00:46:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/768027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panicparade/pseuds/panicparade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spencer didn’t know what was going to be in store for them now: where they would be living, how they would go about rebuilding the world, but for some reason, as he lay there breathing in Ryan’s smell, he found that he wasn't scared at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When the World Stops Spinning

**Author's Note:**

> For the Apocalypse!AU square on my [Trope_Bingo Card](http://panicparade.dreamwidth.org/713.html)  
> Title is a song by _Kyler England_  
>  _Warning_ : Angst, the cat plays an important role and we have a very sweet ending 'cause I can't write sad stuff for the life of me. AND, it's _really_ hard to name fics.  
>  Also, I can't stick to my own word limits.  
> Also, umm, general mentions of dome people dying, but it is the apocalypse after all. I really suck at giving warnings.  
> Beta-ed by the awesome [Clockworkmayhem](http://www.clockworkmayhem.livejournal.com)

 

When the terra ﬁrma quakes  
When the oceans tidal wave   
I would rather die  
Than to ever say goodbye  
To you my love, to you my love  
I will let you go  
When the world stops spinning

-       When the World Stops Spinning

 

They stayed in Arc 1 for 1 year, 4 months and 12 days. Spencer knew because he marked each day with a pen on the wall. He had had his own room and only shared a bathroom with the 3 other room-holders in his division. Not that that was an issue because his division had Brendon (and Sarah and the dogs), Jon (and Cassie and Marley and Dylan) and Dallon (with his family). Once the warning bells had sounded and all of them moved down to their rooms, on roll count it had been found that they were a person short. The one person who’d promised Spencer that he wouldn’t let go of Spencer’s hand and would stay with them, the person who’d been holding Spencer’s hand until the crowd had shoved them about and Spencer felt that hand slipping from his own.

He’d tried not to panic and had made his way to their division, knowing that he’d find Ryan there, but when he’d felt the turbines start, that’s when Spencer had given up and locked himself into his room for a week, only coming out when they did the daily checkups. He knew he was lucky, that he not only had enough money to get himself a single room but was also able to book an entire division for his parents and his sisters’ families. He hadn’t been able to meet them - they were on Arc 2 - but Spencer had received a message in his room when they’d first started the underwater submersion that his entire family had checked in and were safe. Brendon and the others had adjusted by now, used to being confined to roam around in corridors and mess halls, Spencer still found it a little weird that they were floating somewhere near the bed of the ocean. Every day without fail they tried to get Spencer to come out with them and walk around a bit, and each time Spencer would refuse. When he was sure they’d left that’s when he would grab Cpt. Knots, who he’d found wandering around the lower divisions, and trek around the Arc with him; he was the only one who understood in Spencer’s eyes because they were both looking for the same person.

 Spencer would have dinner with the others and then go back to his room with its bed meant for two people and Cpt. Knots would be the only to hear him breaking down, because this wasn’t how it was meant to be.

He wasn’t supposed to face the end of the world alone.

Finally, 1 year, 4 months and 13 days after the gates to the each arc were sealed, Spencer heard the announcements over the speakers that conditions were now  stable enough for the arcs to start the ascent to ground level. This was one day when Spencer, with Cpt. Knots, went along with Brendon and the others to get a glimpse of the sky for the first time in years.  He wouldn’t deny that he was a little excited to see how the world had changed, the world he would now be helping rebuild, but his right hand still twitched by his side, trying to grab onto another that wasn’t there. He was also excited at being able to see his family again. The Arc Generals had had to make communications between Arc’s strictly official because of the sheer number of people that wanted to find out if their loved ones were alive or not. Spencer knew there had been casualties - some people had failed to make it to the Arc’s on time and some just didn’t want to deny the world its end.

They moved to the large overhanging deck, two more similar to it above them, the higher divisions and seven more below them.  There were similar bridges on the other side of the Arc, so that each Arc could connect to the others and take on a line formation, gazing onto the new world. Spencer stood leaning against a wall on the side. He didn’t want to be right in the way of people meeting but he wasn’t too far back that his family wouldn’t be able to spot him. When the locks were finally engaged, the shields were lifted from the front, connecting then with Arc 1 and from the sides so that they could look out at the world they’d be living in now. Spencer decided he’d rather be looking anywhere else than at happy couples meeting and he tightened his hold on Cpt. Knots, moving to stand against the railing. From here everything still looked the same; the ocean was still as clear as before, the sky still as blue and the fresh air still as sweet as before, but he’d heard that there had been major changes in the land formations. New continents had formed while other’s had merged together. He wondered where he’d be placed when they began to inhabit land again.

He stood there until the bridge had almost cleared, but not quite. Most people who’d been meeting families from other Arc’s went on tours, glad of the opportunity to get more space to stretch their legs, but some, like him, had stayed behind on the bridge wanting to take in as much fresh air as they could.

“Could you be any harder to find?”

Spencer froze, closing his eyes and tightening his grip on the squirming cat in his hands. He’d heard about this; often people who’ve lost something or someone close to them develop imaginations so strong that they made up or imagined things around them as a coping mechanism to deal with the loss (he ignored the fact that this was the first time in a year that it had happened. Maybe his subconscious was a late bloomer.). He stayed where he was, even when he heard an exasperated sigh from behind him.

“Spence, would you turn around, please?”

He closed his eyes tight and turned around, scared to let go of the railing because even standing still on the deck he felt like he was slipping. He didn’t even move when he felt warm breath hit his cheek or when he felt cold fingers touch his face while the other hand gripped onto the front of his shirt. He still had his eyes closed tight when he heard the very voice he’d ached to hear for three years, say, “I really don’t think this can work if you won’t open your eyes, Spence.”

Spencer opened them to find himself starting into the hazel eyes he dreamed about every night, the ones he had memorised and not forgotten even a single detail. He was disappointed to find that his memory did them no justice, none at all. He would have just stood there staring at them but his vision was getting blurry and he frowned, reaching up to wipe his eyes. When he cleared his own he saw that those beautiful eyes in front of him were filled with tears too, tears that were slipping down a face he’d longed to see for a year. He heard a choked sob and by the time he realized that he was the one who’d made the sound, a warm body crashed into his own, holding on tight, snapping Spencer out of his frozen state. He would have hugged back – he wantedto do nothing more than hold on tight and never let go, but he still held a squirming body in his arms that was now clawing at anything and everything he could reach.

Ryan stepped back and Spencer wanted to argue about that decision of his when he saw the doubt on Ryan’s face, the way he was making to move back even more, and saying, “Oh . . I’m sorry . . I just thought…” And Ryan was an idiot because Spencer knew what was going through that brain of his.

Spencer pulled him back with one hand and held up Cpt. Knots with the other. “Shut the fuck up Ryan, your fuckin cat is going to shred my hands to pieces. How could you even think that? Do you even know how fucking scared I was? _Do you even know how miserable I’ve been? Are you honestly going to play with your cat right –_ Oh _.”_   Ryan took Cpt. Knots from Spencer’s hand and passed him to Jon, who was standing near them and talking to Tom and his family. Spencer’s mouth was still open mid-sentence, but this time he was ready when Ryan launched himself at him, ready to wrap his arms around him and holding on tight to a body whose warmth he’d missed each night.

What he wasn’t ready for was Ryan crying against his neck, crying so hard he was shaking. What he wasn’t ready for was how he reacted in the same way, how he knew he was holding on tight enough to leave bruises. What he wasn’t ready for was how he buried his face in Ryan’s hair and kept saying _You promised_ while Ryan just clutched him tighter and apologised over and over again. He started to tell him about how he hadn’t meant to let go, but people were pushing and _he’d tried so hard_ to find Spencer. How he’d almost gotten locked outside before someone saw his pass and let him onto Arc 1 where he found Spencer’s family. Spencer let him talk, let him explain. He knew Ryan would keep blaming himself and when he was done, Spencer pulled him close and said, “I love you George Ryan Ross and if for even a single moment you think that I would even consider it a possibility that you let go on purpose, then I’m going to feel very insulted.”

Ryan laughed, sniffled and relaxed against Spencer who would have been content to stand there with Ryan and look at the ocean forever until Ryan leaned up to whisper in his ear that he would really like to be taken back to _their_ room now so that they could make up for lost time.

People laughed as they saw Spencer running along the corridors pulling a smirking Ryan behind him.

The next morning Spencer woke up wrapped around Ryan, not an inch of space between them, as faint sunlight peeked in through the windows they could finally open, a faint breeze ruffling the bed covers and their hair. Spencer didn’t know what was going to be in store for them now: where they would be living, how they would go about rebuilding the world, but for some reason, as he lay there breathing in Ryan’s smell, he found that he wasn't scared at all.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank You for reading!! :)


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